Do You Know The Legal Duties Of A Landlord In Illinois?

Did you know there are requirements landlords are legally required to honor? The most obvious is the responsibility of maintaining the rental unit and ensuring it is a safe and livable environment for tenants.

This means there should be regularly scheduled walkthroughs to check for any issues such as plumbing leaks, blocked exits, pests, roof leaks, rotting floorboards, peeling paint, or loose plaster. It is also important to ensure that common area lights are working.

In addition to maintaining the unit, landlords are also required to provide certain amenities for their tenants. These aren't a matter of kind gestures or acts of thoughtfulness, these are bonafide laws.

Laws Illinois Landlords Must Follow

An apartment door must have a deadbolt lock and peephole or other viewing device on each apartment door.

Landlords are also responsible for providing heat, running water, hot water, electricity, gas, and plumbing.

Landlords in Illinois must provide fire extinguishers on each floor if the building is more than three stories.

Landlords must provide garbage facilities.

There must be screens on windows up to the 5th floor (between April 15 and November 15.)

There must be properly operating smoke and carbon monoxide detectors in each apartment and interior stairwell.

Tenants, on the other hand, are responsible for maintaining working batteries in the smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.

It is important for landlords to inform tenants of any lead hazards that may exist in the rental unit. By law, landlords are not allowed to retaliate against tenants who complain about building or health code violations by raising the rent or taking any other negative action.

This includes retaliatory evictions, which occur when a landlord tries to evict a tenant for asking for repairs, joining a tenant's organization, or exercising any legal right or remedy. Such evictions are illegal. Landlords who engage in this behavior can face consequences.

If your landlord is ignoring requests find out what can be done here.